“He’s your last hope? Brawn’s not even a superhuman!”
Danny smiled. “He doesn’t need to be.”
The ceiling trembled again, more violently this time, and Cross looked up again as a distorted gap appeared between the semi-circular hangar doors.
Danny shifted into fast-time, grabbed Renata’s arm and dragged her across the icy floor to the relative safety of the corridor. He returned for Kenya, then Stephanie.
All three of them had been heavily beaten, their armor cracked and dented. But they were alive. Have to find a way to wake them up. No, I have to deal with Cross first.
Still in fast-time, he raced through the base, searching every room, hoping to find something he could use to stop the madman from carrying out his plans.
Lance had already warned him not to tamper with the missile, but he was sure there must be something he could do.
He returned to the hangar where Cross and the clones were still reacting to the slowly-widening gap in the hangar doors, and as he passed Shadow the clone reacted, and made a grab for him.
Danny jumped aside, and Shadow kept coming.
No! He can see me!
He remembered his battle with Colin, back in the Trutopian town. Colin had been fast enough to fight Danny to a stand-still. I should have realized that one of them might have inherited Colin’s speed.
Danny swung up an arm to block Shadow’s punch, and the force almost knocked him off his feet. He’s not as fast as me, but he’s a lot stronger.
Danny grabbed Shadow’s arm and pulled him forward, at the same time whirling around to slam the clone in the back of the head with his elbow.
Shadow countered the move by dropping to the ground and sweeping his leg out to collide with the backs of Danny’s knees.
Silently, they fought. Danny’s greater speed and strong armor put him almost in Shadow’s league. Almost.
Shadow cracked the edge of his palm against Danny’s artificial arm, but it did nothing more than dent the armor. Danny again grabbed the clone’s arm, and this time he threw himself back, pulling Shadow over his head.
Shadow crashed into the floor, rolled onto his feet and lashed out at Danny’s face with a powerful kick.
Danny tried to dodge aside, but was too late: the kick spent him spinning on his back across the floor, where he collided with one of the other clones, knocking him off his feet.
Shadow leaped after him, and this time Danny was prepared: he rolled to the side out of Shadow’s path, grabbed the clone’s ankles and at the same time activated his jetpack.
They skidded along the floor, heading straight for the wall, and at the last moment Danny let go and hit the jetpack’s retro-burners, which stopped him almost immediately. Shadow slammed head-first into the wall, and lay twitching as Danny scrambled to his feet and ran toward him.
On the edge of his vision he saw a shape moving toward him, coming too fast for him to get out of the way. The second clone—the one he’d crashed into—fell upon him with a barrage of kicks and punches.
One of the punches cracked his visor, and Danny grabbed hold of the clone’s upper arms and spun him to the side, twisting the clone around to put him between himself and Shadow.
Two against one… Danny thought. And it’ll be worse if the other two realize what’s happening. Have to keep the fight away from them.
Victor realized he was backing away as he stared up at the hangar doors, and stopped himself before he crossed the circular rail.
The doors shook with another powerful, deafening boom, and now he could see a crack of daylight between them.
How is this possible? Brawn’s stronger than a normal human, but only because of his size. He’s not a superhuman anymore!
Into his radio he shouted, “Laurie—Sakkara must be still communicating with their ship! Ramp the signal jammer up to full power—blanket the entire area.”
Another boom, then another. Cross yelled, “Stop him!” and the words had barely left his mouth when he realized his mistake.
Alex—despite his broken arm—and Zeke darted across the hangar and up to slam into the already-buckled doors. No! They’re only helping him to get in! “Wait! Stop!”
Zeke hesitated, and looked back.
A massive blue fist burst down through the crack between the doors, crashing straight into Alex and sending him crashing back down to the floor.
Another giant blue hand forced its way through, grabbing hold of Zeke, and Cross now saw how this was possible.
Brawn pushed his way through the crack between the ruined doors, showering the hangar with head-sized lumps of ice that shattered when they hit the floor. He landed heavily, in a crouch, and looked around.
The giant spotted Victor. “You again.”
Victor swallowed. It’s not fair! I didn’t anticipate this! I wasn’t ready for this!
Brawn glowered, and began to stride toward him.
Powered armor, Cross realized. A tiny part of his brain was more impressed than scared. He knew that the biggest obstacle to creating effective powered armor was making it small enough for the average person to use. With Brawn, that was no longer a problem.
Chapter 30
Brawn pounded across the hangar floor, still holding onto the clone he’d grabbed. He stopped in front of Cross, and held up the clone, who was struggling to break free of the giant’s grip. “Which one is this? They have names, right?”
“That’s Zeke.”
“How would you feel if I tore Zeke’s arms from his shoulders?”
Cross shrugged. “Go ahead. I’ve got more of them.” Cross tilted his head to one side as he looked at Brawn, as though he was examining an odd-looking bug. “You’re not a killer, Brawn. Don’t pretend you’d actually do it. Honestly. Look at this situation. You, trying to fool me.”
Brawn spotted Renata and the others off to the side, but before he could investigate three other clones rushed at him, two on foot, one darting down through the hole Brawn had made in the ceiling. He spun to confront the one above him—the powerful motors in his armor greatly amplifying his speed and strength—and used Zeke as a club to swat the clone across the room.
One of the others threw himself hard against Brawn’s leg, trying to knock him off-balance. Brawn reached down and locked his massive hand around the clone’s head.
He kicked out at the third, but the boy dodged to the side, leaped into the air and came crashing down on Brawn’s left shoulder.
The giant lashed out at the third clone with Zeke’s still-struggling body, knocking him aside.
The motors in his powered gloves whined with the effort of keeping his grip on the two clones. The one he was holding by the head was digging his strong fingers into the armor, preparing to tear it apart.
“No you don’t!” Brawn yelled. He swung his huge arms out to the side, then clapped his hands together with as much force as he could manage.
The clones crashed into each other, and went limp.
For good measure, he slammed them together a second time, then tossed their limp, unconscious bodies over his shoulders.
He advanced on Cross. “Your turn.”
He almost hesitated: Cross hadn’t run, he didn’t seem to be armed, and Brawn knew he had no superhuman strength. Why isn’t he scared? What am I missing here?
On the far side of the hangar, something was happening, but Brawn couldn’t see exactly what. Fractures appeared in the walls, followed by small explosions of ice. Objects—old tools, metal pipes, chunks of ice—appeared and disappeared seemingly at random. Small fragments of cloth and chips of metal began to litter the room. As he watched, a splatter of blood shot out of nowhere and spread across the floor. What is that?
Victor Cross remained in place, standing next to his chair, in front of something covered with a gray tarpaulin, in the center of a large, circular metal rail.
Two of the fingers on Danny’s mechanical arm were gone, torn away by Shadow. His visor had completely split open, and he was sure that his armor was c
racked in dozens of places.
He fought on, always on the attack, doing whatever it took to keep Shadow and the other clone from getting to his team-mates.
From his point of view, in fast-time, they had been fighting for hours. They had crashed from one end of the hangar to the other, over and over.
Shadow was relentless, and clearly smarter than his brother. Shadow would attack in a furious burst of energy, then dart away while the other clone took over and received the brunt of Danny’s counter-attack. Of the three, Shadow was definitely taking the least amount of punishment.
Danny swung his fists, kicked, spun and jumped, but they kept coming. Every time he thought he had one of them beaten, the other would keep him busy long enough for the first to recover.
But they weren’t used to working together: occasionally they collided with each other in their eagerness to get to Danny. He was sure that was the only reason he was still on his feet.
The unnamed clone rushed at him from the left, just as Shadow came from the right. Danny activated the jetpack and soared upward. Below, the clones only avoided hitting each other because Shadow turned his attack into flight.
In the air, Danny twisted around so that Shadow was hit in the face with the full force of the jetpack’s blast—but it barely slowed him.
He darted toward the center of the room, dropped low, curved around the outside of the black circle, and zoomed between Brawn’s armored legs. C’mon, big guy—beat the living tar out of these creeps!
With Shadow following him every inch of the way, Danny curved back to the other side of the room where the unnamed clone was preparing to fly straight at him.
Danny dodged around him, made a sharp right and then kicked his feet up so that he flipped onto his back, reversing his direction. Shadow and his brother crashed into each other, slowing them for a moment, and Danny used the opportunity to head straight up, aiming for the black aircraft suspended below the ceiling.
He touched down on top of the aircraft for a second to gather his thoughts. I can’t keep this up much longer. If I could wake Renata… But how? In real time she’s only been unconscious for a few minutes. And if she really has lost her powers again, she wouldn’t stand a chance against them.
Unless… Unless Cross wasn’t lying about me being able to manipulate time.
He cast his mind back two years, to the moments before he’d lost his arm by phasing it inside Cross’s power-damping machine. Colin had been on top of the machine, trying to tear his way inside while its count-down ticked off the last few seconds before it was triggered.
Danny remembered putting his hand on Colin’s shoulder, somehow sensing that he might be able to increase Colin’s speed. It hadn’t worked. I was still only learning to use my powers. Sure, I’m not as fast as I was then, but I’ve got more control. I could reach back in time to a few minutes ago and pull Renata out of the past. Take her from before they stripped her powers.
He cut short his recollections as the clones spotted him and launched themselves after him, Shadow going to the left, the other to the right.
Danny waited until the last moment before leaping down from the top of the plane, hoping that the two were moving too fast to change direction.
He was about to reactivate his jetpack when Shadow’s powerful fingers snagged his left arm.
Shadow jerked Danny back toward him, straight into his brother’s flailing fists.
The first punch slammed into the side of Danny’s helmet, knocking it clear off his head.
The second punch plowed into his chest, denting the armor so deeply that Danny could feel it pressing against his ribs.
The third punch caught him in the face.
In fast-time, there was no sound, but there was pain. Danny screamed in silent agony as the left side of his mandible snapped. He saw a spray of his own blood and pulverized teeth spread out, slowing to real-time as it lost the hyper-speed influence of his powers.
Another punch, this time to his stomach, doubled him over, exposing the back of his neck to the clones: the ideal target if they decided to kill him.
But instead Shadow threw him hard against the far wall. He struck it head-first, and collapsed to the ground next to Renata.
Weak, exhausted, and wracked with pain, Danny lost his hold on fast-time. The sound in the hangar returned as he saw Brawn, on the far side of the huge room, only seconds away from breaching the null-field.
He’ll be killed! He tried to scream a warning, but the agony in his broken jaw was too great, and all that came out was a low moan.
Danny’s vision briefly turned red from the blood dripping into his eyes, and his head swam.
Brawn… No! Don’t cross the rail!
He couldn’t look away. Brawn continued to advance on Victor Cross.
God, no, please don’t let it happen!
Danny’s head grew heavier, and he knew he was about to pass out. He reached out and took hold of Renata’s hand. He tried to concentrate on her personal time-line, to look back into her past. For a second he thought he saw something—a brief glimpse of Renata on a city street, protecting someone from a deluge of bricks and dirt—but then the image was gone. Every movement, every breath sent new waves of agony shooting through his body. Please…
Across the hangar, Brawn scowled at Cross as he approached.
Maybe he’ll notice me here, Danny thought. Maybe that’ll make him stop.
But Brawn kept walking.
He’d had a tough life, Danny knew. Gethin Rao’s powers had kicked in when he was only twelve, instantly and permanently transforming him into a hairless blue giant. Hounded by the police and armies the world over, conned or framed or betrayed by almost everyone he met, Brawn had spent most of his life on the run, or in prison. This is not the way it should end for him! Danny thought. He never had a chance for a normal life. That’s all he ever wanted.
Through the fog of pain, Danny felt his eyes begin to close, but he forced them to stay open. He didn’t want to see this, but he knew that he must. Brawn was his friend. And even if they failed here, if Cross’s plan to burn the world was successful, the giant blue monster was a hero.
He had a sudden memory—not his own—of Victor Cross stepping into the circle, thumbing a switch on a small remote-control device that activated the null-field. Outside the circle, Shadow or one of his brothers tested the null-field by pushing a metal spar over the rail; the end of the spar disappeared.
The vision cleared, and in front of him Danny saw Brawn hesitate, look down at the rail with a frown of suspicion.
And then, as Danny fell into unconsciousness, he saw clones all rush Brawn at the same time, crashing into him from the sides, knocking him forward.
No!
The impact threw Brawn over the rail.
The blue giant collapsed to the ground in front of Victor, and almost instantly pushed himself to his feet even as the clones were swarming over his armor, punching, kicking, desperately trying to keep him away from Cross.
Cross himself had pulled the remote control device from his jacket pocket, stared at it for a moment before he began to back away from Brawn. He stepped over the metal rail, then turned and ran.
Inwardly, Danny screamed. No! I could have stopped him! He was bluffing!
Danny blacked out.
Chapter 31
In Sakkara, Lance turned away from the screens to see that Cassandra and Razor had been watching from the doorway.
Razor asked, “What do we do?”
Lance couldn’t think of a reply. We’re done, he thought. Brawn’s not going to last long, and even Danny is out-matched by the clones. “Suit up. Both of you. Prepare the Marlin.”
“We’d never get there in time,” Razor said. “And neither of us has any experience with the suits.”
“You’re not going to Zaliv Kalinina. You’re going to Washington. In the event of a planet-wide disaster there’s an emergency procedure that’s designed to get the president and other important government
officials to safety. There’s a prototype aircraft that can reach a sub-orbital altitude and maintain it for months. You’re going to try to ride out the storm.”
“That wouldn’t work,” Razor said. “The volcanoes will be discharging lava with enough force to break orbit. And there’s no way we’d be allowed anywhere near the craft.”
“You’ll fight your way to it. If you have to, force them to let you on board.”
Cassandra said, “No. If Cross’s missile detonates I wouldn’t want to survive.”
“Same here,” Razor said. “Besides, the planet will be burning for thousands of years.”
Lance nodded. “You’re right, of course.” He turned back to face the monitors.
Victor Cross walked out of the hangar, leaving the battle behind. He stepped over the unconscious bodies of the New Heroes and briefly wondered whether he should just siphon Danny’s powers right now.
Best not, he decided. He’s too badly injured to be a threat. That broken jaw has got to hurt. When he wakes up I’ll give him one more chance.
Behind him the battle raged on. He briefly glanced back toward Brawn, and thought that he was doing remarkably well for someone without any real superhuman abilities. Even I’ve underestimated him. He’ll be dead in minutes, but still, that’s impressive.
Again, he looked at the remote control device in his hands. So what happened? Why did the null-field stop working? When did it stop working?
He’d designed and built the null-field generator himself, intimately knew every circuit, every microchip. It was infallible, designed to withstand even Colin Wagner’s ability to remotely destroy electronic equipment.
He paused as he stared at the remote control, and felt a cold sweat break out on the back of his neck. It’s not switched on.
Cross remembered turning on the device, remembered watching as Warwick had tested the null-field from the other side.
And he remembered demonstrating it to Danny Cooper by flicking a shard of ice at the field and watching it disappear.
It was on. It was working.
The New Heroes: Crossfire Page 24